Lucien stood beside her, arms crossed. "It’s abstract. Could refer to music, emotion... or memory."
She hugged her knees, chin resting on them. "Maybe... it’s not something we find."
He looked down at her.
"Maybe," she continued softly, "it’s something we *remember.*"
A long silence passed. The waves continued rolling, gentle and steady.
Lucien’s voice, when it came, was quieter than she’d ever heard it.
"When I was nine, Father left for battle. He didn’t return for almost a year."
She looked up at him.
"I was angry. At him. At everything. Then one day, Mother sat beside me on the stairs. She held my hand. Said, ’When someone you love is far away, close your eyes and listen. If your heart is quiet... you’ll still hear them.’"
Evelisse’s throat tightened.
Lucien didn’t say anything else.
She stood slowly and reached out.
He looked startled, but then—after a beat—took her hand.
Together, they stood still, eyes closed, letting the wind curl around them.
And in that silence...
The laughter of her brothers.
The soft hum of her mother’s lullaby.
The proud strength in Aldric’s voice.
And right at the center of it—her own heart. Calm. Present. Not afraid.
She opened her eyes and whispered, "I hear it."
"So do I," Lucien said.
They turned back toward the cliffs, side by side.
The sun was high now, and their shadows stretched long across the sand.
"Shall we claim our prize, little sister?" Lucien asked.
She beamed. "Let us go with royal dignity."
They walked the rest of the way like noble adventurers returning from conquest.
The moment they stepped back into view, the rest of the family turned.
"There they are!" Jared pointed. "Took you long enough! Did you get eaten by crabs or distracted by philosophical seaweed?"
Evelisse held up the shell that hummed gently in her hand. "We found the singing shell."
The wind caught her hair, and the shell glowed faintly in her palm.
Seraphina clapped. "How beautiful. That used to be a legend in old Unarian stories. It means the sea accepts you."
"Or," Jared stage-whispered, "that you’re secretly a mermaid."
Evelisse puffed out her cheeks. "I am not a mermaid, Your Highness of Bad Jokes."
"She got you good," Callum said, nudging Jared with a grin.
Leo and Felix returned shortly after, carrying something suspiciously sticky and glittering.
"What in the name of moonlight is that?" Lucien asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"It’s a bubble-coral bloom," Leo announced, holding it up like a prize. "It sings lullabies if you poke it."
"I poked it," Felix mumbled. "Now it won’t stop singing about bedtime."
Sure enough, the object began humming a slow, sleepy tune:
♪"Drift away little star\~ let the tide take your heart..."♪
"Make it stop," Lucien muttered.
"I tried covering it," Felix said, shoving the coral into a pouch. "Now it sounds like a muffled ghost."
Soon, all teams returned, each with their odd finds. Magical feathers, sunroot petals that glowed faintly, a crystal that made everyone sneeze whenever they looked at it.
Jared stepped up onto a large rock and held up a stick like a royal staff. "Ladies, gentlemen, and siblings of questionable intellect—our scavenger hunt champion has been determined!"
He pointed dramatically to Evelisse.
"Her shell sang. Her heart heard. And by unanimous cheer—"
The brothers raised their fists.
[♡ Affection Points Increased: +90]
[Total points accumulated so far: 910♡]
"Huzzah for Evelisse!"
"Glory to the small one!"
"May she never trip on wet sand!" Follow current novels on NoveI[F]ire.net
Evelisse laughed as she was hoisted into the air by Leo and Callum.
They built her a "throne" out of driftwood, seaweed, and sun-warmed cloth. She sat, small hands folded in her lap, grinning as they paraded her down the beach like royalty.
Jared bowed low. "Your Highness, what is your first command?"
Evelisse leaned forward, face alight. "Snugglewuff gets a feast. And you must all carry me to dinner."
"Fair," Marcus said, slinging her onto his back. "All hail the littlest tyrant!"
They marched up the dunes with exaggerated pomp. Snugglewuff barked joyfully and chased crabs, and Fluffy hovered nearby like a tiny advisor with a crown made of twigs.
Dinner that night was a wild affair. Roasted fish in citrus glaze, bread with enchanted honey, and lemon-charm cakes that twinkled when bitten. The dining table was pulled out to the veranda, facing the moonlit ocean. Stars glittered like scattered treasure across the sky.
"May the Bay Princess always rule with crumbs in her curls," Jared toasted, raising a coconut cup.
Evelisse rolled her eyes. "I’m still seven. I can’t rule *anything* yet."
"But you won the hunt," Seraphina said, her eyes warm. "And that shell is no ordinary treasure."
Evelisse nodded solemnly. "I shall treasure it."
Something about that shell... it made her chest feel both warm and heavy. Like it knew more than it should.
The sea whispered behind them, and laughter filled the air.
"You’ve done well, Eve," he murmured as he refilled her juice.
That made her sit straighter.
But as the plates were cleared and dessert passed around, a quiet settled in her heart. A soft knowing.
And that night, as Evelisse yawned and climbed into bed—her window open to the soft hush of waves—the wind carried something different.
She blinked sleepily and turned her pillow.
There, nestled just beneath it, was something glowing faintly.
But not the one she found earlier.
This one was smaller.
Marked with a strange rune etched along its ridge.
It hummed in her hand.
But something deeper.
Evelisse sat up fully, the blanket falling to her waist.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she traced the rune.
The shell was cool at first—like polished bone—but as she held it longer, it began to warm in her palm.
"Fluffy," she whispered.
The chibi fox flickered into view, blinking blearily like it had been napping. "Mm? Did a crab sneak into your bed? Shall I summon an anti-crustacean barrier?"
"No." She opened her hand. "Look."
Fluffy’s pixel-eyes widened. "That’s... not the one you found earlier."
’I know,’ she responded softly. ’This one... it was under my pillow.’
Fluffy zipped closer, sniffing the glowing rune. "That’s not normal."